The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Rafael Nadal is the star attraction

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 25, 2005

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Rafael Nadal is the star attraction

Sports Reporter

Chennai: 2005 was a `C'mon Moya' and `C'mon Srichaphan' show. Come 2006, and kids can soon start practising N-A-D-A-L, not that they need any practice.

Rafael Nadal, the world No.2 with a blistering forehand and elastic ball-reach accessorised by some fist-pumping and pirate-pants scampering will be the biggest addition and attraction of the 2006 Chennai Open from January 2 to 8, besides the usual suspects, defending champion Carlos Moya and finalist Paradorn Srichaphan.

At a press conference to announce the player field for the event, V. Narayanan, President, Tamil Nadu Tennis Association, said the Chennai Open would be a springboard for talented and established players to leap ahead.

"We do not want popular players who are on their way down, but have now started bringing in players who are in-form and are going up the rankings."

Ravi Krishnan, Managing Director, IMG-TWI South Asia, announced the field and said the tournament had been generating very good response over the years.

"Chennai is the tennis capital of the country, and tournaments like this will give it global recognition," he said. The qualifying tournament will be held on December 31, 2005, and January 1, 2006.

When queried about trying to bring in more top-ranked players, he said five tournaments would be conducted at that time, all over the world, which made it difficult to rope-in top-ranked players, but hinted at the possibility of Roger Federer's presence in the 2007 edition. And for the hordes of tennis lovers hoping to see some familiar faces answering to the names Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, he said the doubles field would be announced later, but the duo's presence is certain, though their partners names aren't.

Sponsorships

On the consortium of sponsors, put together by the Government of Tamil Nadu and the TNTA, till 2009, Susan Mathew, Secretary Sports, Tamil Nadu Government, said the Government was pleased to be involved in sponsoring and promoting tennis. M.P Shankar, AITA representative and Apoorva, SDAT Member Secretary, were also present.

Narayanan also announced plans to conduct WTA and senior tournaments in Chennai, provided enough resources are raised.

The player's list: 1-Rafael Nadal (Spain), 2- Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic), 3- Carlos Moya (Spain), 4-Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand), 5- Tomas Behrend (Germany), 6-Gilles Muller (Luxembourg), 7-Bjorn Phau (Germany), 8-Hyung-Taik Lee (Korea), 9-Rainer Schuettler (Germany), 10-Cyril Saulnier (France), 11-Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain), 12-Lukas Dlouhy (Czech Republic), 13-Dick Norman (Belgium), 14-Kristof Vliegen (Belgium), 15- Marcos Daniel (Brazil), 16-Kevin Kim (U.S.A), 17-Bobby Reynolds (U.S.A), 18-Thierry Ascione (France), 19-Jiri Novak (Czech Republic), 20-Yeu-Tzuoo Wang (Chinese Taipei), 21-Razvan Sabau (Romania), 22-Alexander Waske (Germany), 23- Ramon Delgado (Paraguay), 24- Ricardo Mello (Brazil), 25-Fernando Vicente (Spain).

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